Spoiler Alert
by thir13enth
Summary: After finding out that her in-real-life crush Jellal is also her tumblr crush, Grand Chariot, Erza tries to play it cool. Jerza. A continuation of Wolfspirit44's "A Touch of Reality."


**Changing things up a bit. Wolfspirit44 and I were chatting on another line and...well at first I was just joking but then I ended up writing the sequel to her piece.**

 **So. This is a continuation of Wolfspirit44's "A Touch of Reality." (Please read that first of course!) The only change is that I make Erza a fanfic writer. I'm sure that at least some of us can identify with that! Anyway, hopefully you all enjoy! I definitely have a different writing style than Quinn but I have hopefully done her story some justice!**

 **This story is dedicated (of course) to Quinn. :3**

* * *

The ramen noodles she's holding between her chopsticks slide off.

"Took you long enough to figure it out, _Warrior_ ," he teases, sticking his tongue out at her, as she reaches quickly back for her dropped phone

She tries to not look disappointed.

"W-Well," she explains, trying to keep her stutter to herself. "Honestly, I would have thought Grand Chariot would have been hotter."

He gives her a puppy dog face. "Wah, Erzaaaaa, don't be like that," he pouts.

"So…when did you figure it out?" she asks. She attempts to pick up the noodles that she had previously dropped back into her rapidly cooling soup.

She's still in shock, holding her phone tightly in her other hand. This reveal—or whatever it would be called—is happening much too quickly. Wasn't it the case that tumblr friends met in real life on purpose and not on accident? She admits that she indeed has imagined meeting Grand Chariot before in the flesh and bone but at the same time, it isn't every day that she realizes that her online crush is one and the same person actual IRL crush as well.

His eyes roll to the ceiling and he strokes his chin to calculate in his head. "Maybe a month ago?" he finally replies. She immediately notices his carefully crafted response.

Her eyes narrow slightly. "How?"

"Um…" and then he looks off to the side and stretches his arms above his head, bringing one of his hands behind his head and tousling his hair. "I don't know. You mentioned you had ramen for lunch and I know it was the same day that we came here."

"You're lying," she immediately accuses—the advantage of having known the blue-haired kid for longer than she can remember is that she can instantly spot when he's lying.

Not that he was a terrible liar already.

"You must have looked at my phone or something," she concludes, bouncing the noodles on her chopsticks up and down before nodding her head down and slurping them up. She chews slowly, waiting for his response.

"No…" he retorts, his voice trailing. His eyes flicker up to meet hers, but he knows that she's already figured him out, and he sighs, defeated. "Fine, I…I looked at your computer when you went to the bathroom."

She swallows. "You what?"

Had he broken Erza Rule #1: Don't look through Erza's computer or phone _without_ her permission?

"I just—I—" He makes a number of false starts, before finally spilling the beans. "You were just laughing to yourself and smiling at your laptop and when I asked you, you just said it wasn't anything important—but Erza, _you know_ that I can't help but get curious so I just decided to take a _really quick_ peek!"

"Yeah, just like how you _can't help but_ read the spoilers," she deadpans, rolling her eyes.

"What?" he defends, throwing up his hands. "I was just curious to see what you were getting so giggly at behind your screen—and then I found out that you were on tumblr and that you were actually Scarlet Warrioress! Or rather, that you _are_."

She groans, slumping down to the cafeteria table and resting her forehead on her arms. She's really just hiding a blush. Why hadn't he just told her right then and there? By now, she's revealed _so much_ about herself to Grand Chariot— _him_ —all her embarrassing headcanons, all the weird relationships that she shipped, all her rants about the fandom…he had even read her _fanfiction_!

…and he's only _now_ telling her that he was the amazing manga cap color and artist on the other side of the screen?!

"You're very different online," she remarks, looking back up and returning to the present as calmly as she can. She takes another bite of ramen, lifts the bowl up to her mouth to drink the broth.

"Really?" he says, his shoulders loosening, seeing that Erza isn't quite as mad as he expected her to be.

She recalls all the cutesy cat gifs and squealing emoticons that Chariot—no, _Jellal_ —has sent her.

Then she almost chokes on her soup when she remembers him mentioning—

 _I've been trying to catch this cute girls' attention but she's oblivious._

…had he been talking about her?!

Come to think of it, she slowly realizes, Grand Chariot has really only started mentioning that he's been trying to get some chick's attention starting a few weeks ago. She only knows this because she only began discovering that she might have developed an online crush on Chariot when she started feeling a pang of jealousy whenever he mentioned that he was flirting…

"You should have just told me!" she blurts suddenly.

"Th-that I was Grand Chariot?" he asks, not expecting her outburst.

"Yeah…no! I don't know…," she answers, mumbling to herself and massaging her temples.

"Sorry," he apologizes, his mouth twisting. His arms fold across the table and he strokes his elbow with his thumb nervously. "I was going to tell you eventually but I guess…this happened."

She doesn't know if she feels more betrayed, surprised, relieved…shouldn't she be _estatic_ that Grand Chariot and Jellal—the two people that she felt the closest too—were one and the _same_ person?

"You didn't tell me that you officially declared to major in astronomy," she says.

He frowns. "You never asked. I thought you knew."

"Or that we're in the same fandom," she adds.

"Well…I thought that you wouldn't want to talk about anime in public."

"Or that you don't really like ramen," she continues.

"I mean, I don't _hate_ it, I just—"

"I thought we knew everything about each other!"

Jellal's eyebrows furrow with concern. "Hey," he says, trying to catch her eyes. "I'm sorry." She looks off to the side, and he attempts to get her attention again, placing his hands over hers.

She stiffens, but there's something comforting in the gesture.

"I'm sorry," he repeats. "Honestly I didn't know that…Warrior was you either and when I found out, I guess I was…happy?" He takes a breath and softly smiles. "I mean, hey, at least I didn't end up being Ichiya, right?"

Erza can't help the laugh that gurgles up inside her. She shudders and chuckles. "I guess so," she admits.

His eyes brighten when seeing her relax a bit.

"So…we can still be friends right?" he asks.

She gives him a cutting glare.

"Oh come on," he whines, leaning backwards. "Just because we're tumblr friends doesn't mean we can't be friends in real life? I mean on tumblr, you _had_ to have been thinking about meeting me in person at some point, right?"

"Well, the fact that I've known you all my life changes things a little bit," Erza replies.

Not to mention also the fact that she doesn't really want to _just_ be friends with him.

By admitting that he's Grand Chariot and that he knew this entire time that she's Scarlet Warrioress, didn't he basically just confess that he thinks that she's cute…or even pretty?

Isn't _he_ being the oblivious one now?

Or maybe she's just overthinking things…

But he definitely _knew_ that Scarlet Warrioress was her when he messaged her saying that she was pretty…or at least prettier than the cute girl that he was flirting with…but wasn't that girl he was flirting with her, as well?

She closes her eyes and shakes her head discretely. She's confusing herself.

"Right?" he asks again, not having heard an answer from her.

"Yeah," she replies without thinking.

"Good," he says. "Because I wanted to ask you out."

Her heart explodes out of her chest.

"Wha—I—but," she stutters, feeling her cheeks grow as red as her hair.

A gentle smile stretches over his face, but then he looks down bashfully.

"A-Actually," he admits. "I had been planning to ask Scarlet Warrioress—or…you, but when you didn't know that I was Grand Chariot—to have a meet up in real life and then…I had been planning to surprise you and take you on a surprise date then…" And then he makes eye contact with her again, and the blush that she sees on his cheeks is the most adorable thing that she's ever seen. "But I guess this might have ended up better after all."

She bites her lip, trying to keep herself together. "W-Well…" and then she realizes that she doesn't have anything to say and he didn't ask any questions. "Yeah," she says, nodding her head vigorously.

"So…when do you have time? Tonight?"

She nods her head without thinking. "Yeah, I don't have any class tomorrow and—"

But then she remembers that _because_ she didn't have any class tomorrow she scheduled _something else_ for that night…in fact, a week ago she decided to participate in a shipping exchange and she made the terrible mistake of _promising_ one of her fans that she was definitely going to have that monster of a one-shot uploaded by the end of the night.

"A-Actually," she corrects. "I have some…work to get done."

"Work?" he asks, raising an eyebrow.

Wait. This was _Grand Chariot_ she was talking to.

"Ihavetowriteafanfiction," she admits under her breath, looking off to the side.

"You have to what?"

"Fanfiction," she repeats quickly. "I have to write a fanfiction."

He's silent for a moment and she quickly adds.

"It's for the CeleDrag exchange."

He blinks before he laughs. He leans in and whispers in her ear. "Thanks for reminding me—I told this author that I'd make the cover art for their CeleDrag multi-chap fic last weekend and I totally forgot."

She giggles. There's something special about talking about the fandom out loud in real life—especially with someone that she's been talking to for a long time.

"I guess…we should stay in today," he says. "Maybe I'll…take you out another day."

"W-Well, we can…work together," she suggests. "Wanna come over?"

He winks. "Jellal was planning on hanging out with Erza the rest of the day like he usually does anyway. Are you asking Grand Chariot?"

She rolls her eyes but answers him anyway. "Both."

* * *

 **FIN**

* * *

 **But then this is the omake of it—mostly inspired by the struggles of almost every fanfiction author, I'm sure, so I want to dedicate this omake in honor of all the fabulous authors that we have in the FT fandom! Once you're done reading this, the first thing I ask you to do is go to your favorite fanfiction authors and send them a message with your love and support! Your words go a long way!**

* * *

This is the one thing that she doesn't know about him—both as her childhood friend Jellal Fernandes and as her tumblr buddy Grand Chariot—

"You wear glasses?" Erza asks, astonished.

He nods, placing them onto his nose before flopping onto his belly on her mattress next to her and opening his laptop.

"I've never seen you wear glasses," she says, moving her legs aside to give him more space.

He turns to face her and winks. "Only when I'm doing manga caps or sketches."

She hides a blush behind the sleeve of her oversized sweater before she reaches for her mug of tea and sips it. Hydrated, she turns her eyes back to the blank Word document.

 _The_

A perfect start to her one-shot. Why didn't words just write themselves?

She sighs and then allows herself to get distracted, flipping over to the tumblr. She mindlessly scrolls through GIFs and occasionally reads a rant, even a shitpost.

For a while, the only sound in her dorm room is the sound of her keyboard clacking and his mouse clicking and dragging.

He suddenly look over at her. She immediately gives him her attention. "You know, we should do a collab, or something."

She rolls her eyes.

"Don't talk about that. You know I have a love-hate relationship with my writing. My relationship with writing is very rocky."

"Well I ship it," he said. And then he smiles. "Just like how I ship Titania with Mystogan."

At first she smiles because it's punny—after all, Titania is the character she named her username after and Mystogan is who he named his username after.

But then she wrinkles her nose when reminding herself of canon. "That's actually seriously a crack ship."

"So?" he challenges, turning back to his screen. "I'm still on that boat. Just cuz it's not canon doesn't mean I can't ship it hard."

She laughs, readjusting her legs and propping her computer back on her lap, scrolling down the page.

There's something comforting about being able to spend time with Jellal in another way. Who would ever guess they're part of the same fandom?

Also Jellal looks very cute with glasses on.

She forces her eyes back to her screen, rather than him, and continues to scroll down her dashboard.

She finds something funny and then laughs out loud, before opening her chat box with Grand Chariot and sending him the link to the post.

His phone pings, and she suddenly remembers herself that Grand Chariot—rather, Jellal—is actually sitting right next to her.

"You know you could just tell it to me out loud right," he reminds her, his eyes focused on his screen, concentrating on carefully brushing some dark red along a line.

She pouts. "Well what if I prefer writing to Grand Chariot and not talking to Jellal Fernandes?"

"Well too bad," he replies, continuing to color. "Grand Chariot and Jellal Fernandes are both the same handsome guy."

"I'm unfollowing you."

He turns around and winks. "Well as long as you're still around me in real life, I don't mind."

She rolls her eyes. "Just check it out when you have a chance."

"I will," he promises.

She turns back to her dashboard, continuing to scroll.

Her heart skips when she sees a surprising post. She leans in, looking closer at her screen to make sure that everything she was seeing straight.

"Oh my god!" she exclaims. "Apparently in chapter 469—"

"Erza," he interrupts her, suddenly whipping off his glasses and glaring back at her. "Just because we know each other in real life now doesn't mean that I now want to hear spoilers."

He's cute when he's angry.

"You know you'll eventually see them anyway. You can't help yourself," she teases, and then turns her computer screen to his direction to show him the clip of the manga. "Look, after entering the cave, they encounter—"

"Seriously! Stop!" and he closes his eyes, slapping his hands onto his face to prevent him from seeing what can never be unseen.

"That'll teach you to keep your eyes to your own screen," she taunts, sticking her tongue out at him.

* * *

 **Much Jerza love! And I'll catch you all another time! 3 Don't forget to tell your favorite writers and artists and videomakers and bloggers how much you appreciate them!**

 **thir13enth**


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